That doesn't mean that I don't love the game, though. As a matter of fact, I honestly believe that WoW is one of the most impressive games ever created. The lore is incredibly detailed, it looks good (even on my valve powered PC) and despite what certain elements on the BBC may say, has a healthy and happy community who love to throw themselves into Azeroth on a regular basis.
I could probably best be described as a dabbler when it comes to WoW. I enjoy the exploring but never really felt the need to race to the level cap. I'd much prefer to just wander about, taking in the sights and really getting immersed in the story. If I got bored with a character I'd rolled, I'd just go and start up another one. Never Alliance though. Who wants to be the good guys? Playing video games is meant to be about escapism, surely!
Anyway, about six months ago, I came to a realisation that I just wasn't playing it as much, and the monthly subscription was no longer worth it. So, I stopped. Simple as that. But the little icon still sat on the desktop, waiting for the day that knew would come. The day I went back. Which happened to be Wednesday December 8, 2010. The day that Cataclysm landed on my doorstep.
Cataclysm is basically a reboot. The story is that a bloody huge dragon called Deathwing (aka: The Destroyer) has torn through the dimensional barrier that surrounds Azeroth. This caused a Cataclysm (hence the name) that has pretty much changed the whole game world.
Areas that were previously lush jungle, for example, are now little more than scorched earth, while the deserts now seem filled with greenery. Different races have found themselves having to pick up and ship out to new places. Things, as the cliché goes, will never be the same again (which is true – the worlds of vanilla WoW, Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King are no more, replaced forever by this post-destruction world.
I started from the very beginning, checking out the new races. The Horde gets the goblins, techy little buggers who have the ability to create brilliant machines. The werewolfian Worgen join The Alliance (finally, in my opinion, giving the good guys something worth playing!)
Both starting areas are impressive in different ways: the Worgen all dark and brooding. The Goblins a hive of steampunk activity. What with it still being very early days, both areas are busy as all hell, but there's an almost party atmosphere as people are getting to grips with their new avatars. If you're struggling, there are plenty of people around to ask for assistance (at least on Azuremyst server, anyway).
After playing around with the two new races for a while, I wanted to see what changes had been made to an old favourite of mine, so I created a new Tauren character; a Paladin, which was never previously available. There are lots of new classes for the old races in Cataclysm by the way.
Penetration
WoW will always be divisive amongst gamers – those who enjoy it will defend it to the end, while their opposite numbers will decry it as WarCrack or a slightly prettier-than-average spreadsheet. However, despite the predictions from many quarters, the game lives on, moving into its seventh year with subscribers remaining steady at around 12 million worldwide. Being one of those subscribers, I think that with the introduction of Cataclysm I'm now ready to throw myself into it a little more.
One of the complaints I had with the game was that it can sometimes be impenetrable, especially to those who haven't been there from the beginning. Blizzard seem to have taken this into consideration and want to include everyone in the fun.
